Setting up for... not just the strike of midnight...

29Dec10, 7pm: Hot yoga with Michael Lau

30Dec10, 9:30pm: Hot yoga with Keiki To

I did not care for my yoga teacher this evening, but I still tried someone new and learned a bit despite it not being my style.

Found this gem today...

Setting ourselves up for success... a top ten list that I created from a bit I found written by Prof. Timothy Sharp.

1. Imagine a positive vision of the future, where you’re living a fulfilling, active, and flourishing life.

2. Imagine your best possible self. Which “you” would you like to become?

3. Start living as though you’re at your best now by scheduling positive and inspiring activities into your life.

4. Plan activities that aren’t just pleasurable but require effort and mastery. This will increase the amount of satisfaction you get from them.

5. Be mindful of negative thoughts. Develop and cultivate realistic and optimistic thoughts.

6. Build confidence by trying something new, and believe you can do it.

7. Rather than trying to fix weaknesses, focus on your strengths and then build on these.

8. Take some time to redefine your relationship with food and exercise. Try to make physical activities fun.

9. Enlist the support of encouraging family and friends.

10. Appreciate the good things in your life and the world around you.

I've heard peaceful debates both "for" and "against" #9. What are your thoughts on sharing your goals?

Starting to send off 2010...

25Dec2010, 9:30am: Hot Yoga with Shirley Wong

26Dec2010, 11:30am: Power Yoga with Michael Lau

As I spend the next week reflecting on 2010, which I think has been the best year of my life, I would like to make a conscious effort to think about 2011 as well. I remember ringing in 2010 and saying to myself this is going to be the best year! I had so many plans for the year, so many exciting happenings, and I chartered my path from day one. I do plan to take this approach for 2011. This leads me to mention something that my yoga teacher said on Christmas day during hot yoga, which was for me a really special way to start my day. She said the following:

"Take a moment now and in life to think about what you want for the future before you make your next move."

This is clearly so appropriate for a yoga class. My

postures of the day were tree (vrikshaasana)

and dancer (natarajasana ) asanas. I thought about the acute meaning of this phrase when taking my tree posture (vrikshaasana) from having my hands in prayer (is it called namasté for prayer hands?) to another level. I extended my arms and hands upward, straightening them, reaching up into the air like branches growing out of a strong, rooted trunk, and looking up to the sky as if to grow, right there from feet, legs, torso rooted right into the yoga studio floor... reaching for the light. This is actually quite an easy posture for me, but I notice that if, during that transition with my hands and arms, I do not think about what I am doing and where my body is going, I lose balance. My strong, rooted tree wavers.

This seems like the perfect state of mind in which to address the second step of effective goal setting:

2. Balanced goals for a balanced life

Set goals in all areas of your life:

-- Career

-- Health

-- Personal

This touches on the idea of balance, which is extremely important to me and has directed some of the most important decisions in my life (as it should, I'm finally learning). This step of goal-setting also touches on an idea I'd like to explore more within myself in the new year of 2011. That is the idea of living congruently. If someone is not living congruently, there is a disconnect between these three (or more) major areas of your life (career, health, and personal). For example, what happens when you are brilliant and achieve so much in one aspect of your life (e.g. career) but struggle with another (e.g. health and fitness)? I see that rampantly within the higher levels of academia and I've never been able to understand it. I thought that in order to be extremely successful in one branch, you had to forsake others. Furthermore, it is not just about being successful, per se, and goal-oriented in these three branches of your existence, but also adhering to your core values in all aspects of your life. I think that is what I'd most like to explore, keeping consistency in my values across career, health, and personal avenues of my life. Sometimes when goal setting, it's also important to re-visit your values and make adjustments as needed. I also think it's important to have goals in all divisions. I will be doing just that this week as we start to finish this chapter of life called 2010 and begin a new, exciting decade!

I look forward to continuing to share my goals and progress and hope you will continue to join me as well!

Goals

"If you are at peace with yourself, home can be any place on Earth."

-- Taxi driver in Townsville, QLD Australia, 16 December 2010

He was a New Zealander, and just by judging his build and stature, likely a rugby player and perhaps with a bit of Maori. His calf muscles were as big around as my waist, and he was close to 7-foot tall. I would not have wanted to be in a scrum with this guy; yet he had the most peaceful demeanour. He also spoke fluent Mandarin because his wife was Chinese and they lived there together for at least a decade. I could picture him towering over every one of the 1.3 billion Chinese people... anyway, this was the conversation I had before arriving to a campus where I was to have my very first job interview and seminar as a new PhD... that was my morning... not bad, I'll say! I was sweating buckets, but that is no fault of my own, really. It just happens with me, but in addition to the fact that I sweat when I'm nervous, it was also 36C outside with 85% humidity. I was dressed nicely and felt professional to the point where I knew I wasn't overdressed but would still stand out a bit amongst the casual academics in their flip flops and cargo shorts. Plus, I didn't want to look like a student! I had a nice breakfast in my room earlier, a delicious room service veggie omelette with gluten free toast and a coffee, Americano style that they call a long black. Essentially, I set my morning up perfectly (for me)... in hindsight, set myself up for success.

I was a little worried about the cab ride, as I didn't have that much cash with me, and was getting toward the end of the month. I had gone a month and a half on this last pay-check, which would have normally been ok, but starting out in a new town requires double the expenses once you pay deposits and such. C'est la vie. Plus, I wasn't sure what they were paying for on my trip. It sounded like they were paying for all of my meals, but nothing was mentioned about transportation other than my airfare, and it always seemed like someone was there to pick me up and take me where I needed to be or even just on a tour of the city or campus. I just let things happen. As it turned out, they insisted on reimbursing me for the cab ride as well as any other incidentals. Phew.... was nice, but not expected.

Anyway, there is a whole lot more to report, as I did have a full day of giving my seminar, tons of interviews, followed by meetings and more the next day. I even had to "talk shop" at a BBQ that Sat. night and had a few more meetings the following Monday. It was a very long week!

I'll just say that the reason I'm mentioning all of this, the taxi ride, the breakfast, the timing, is

because this is the second time in only a few months where I overtly feel as though I actively set myself up for success. Now I didn't go into all of the preparations I made before I even left HK or the work that I did in my hotel room every night, into the wee hours of the morning to make sure that my presentation would be delivered just perfectly and that I'd know which interview questions to anticipate and have some intelligent ones to ask of my own, and that I'd know everyone I met within the Centre of Excellence as well as their background and research... I mentioned the final preparations, in the 11th hour, so to speak, the moments before my big debut as a scientist, a real scientist, PhD and all. Why did I do this... all of that preparation, the real stuff, the nuts and bolts... that's all we think about sometimes I guess. But what I've realized is how important those last few things are, the last few details that polish your work, polish your attitude, give you vibrancy and energy, give you confidence...

In this time of wrapping up 2010 and getting ready for a new year, 2011, we all start thinking about goals and where we want to be, what we want to do, etc. I think that taking care of yourself so that you are "set up" to achieve those goals is just as important. It's more than being prepared. It's about knowing yourself really well. This is an amazing feeling and comes gradually, sometimes stops for a bit, then comes a bit more...

In light of that short personal vignette and my round-about way of getting to goal-setting, I'd like to share a bit about goal-setting that I think is really well-organized. It's from a company that has set this as a priority with their staff, and I like the model a lot. For this post, it seems so appropriate, I'll start with this first step only:

1. Know thyself

To achieve goals you must be passionate about them. You will be passionate about your goals if they have meaning for you.

Consider the following:

-- What are your core values?

-- Where do you want to be in 10 years?

-- What do you want for your life?

-- What difference do you want to make in the world?

I have just achieved a HUGE career goal of my own, but that doesn't mean that I put a check mark by it and move on. I keep it on the forefront, keep checking in with myself, divide it into smaller goals, more short term, and ensure that everything I do regarding this goal is in line with the above for (1.). In addition, I ensure that my 11th hour preparations, my staging, setting up, preparing... they are all in line with (1.) as well.

I will be elaborating more on this, and refining and fine-tuning the goals that I'm keeping on my home page of this blog. I may add some smaller ones as well.

Meanwhile, what are your goals and how will you set yourself up for success?

Very temporary hiatus

10Dec10, 7am: Hot yoga with Martina Lee

11Dec10, 6pm: Hot yoga with Ocean Liang (new teacher)

12Dec10: no yoga :-(

13Dec10, 7am: Hot yoga with Michael Lau

I'm a bit behind on my blog posting but that actually makes me very proud, as I'm trying to put as much as my focus as possible on the upcoming week in Australia. I have an interview

for a job that I've been working on, writing proposals for, getting long listed, medium listed, short listed, and now flown in for interviews. I have to give a seminar as well as go through the

rigours of meet-and-greet with the department and the Centre of Excellence, and so I'm trying my best to keep the blinders and and work diligently until my flight Monday night. It won't be long, and I'll be back to it, though, as I've been saving up some funny stories and a lot of deep thoughts to ponder. Until then... good-aye mate?

Efficiency

9Dec10, 7:15am: Bodypump workout with Kelvin (it's essentially a muscular endurance work-out, and I love it!)

I caught up on emails and news before 6:45am when I left my apartment (I think I'm only allowed to call it a flat if I'm British... it's called a flat here in HK, but that's probably because of the Commonwealth and previous crown rule). I got in my work-out and was at work with a one-shot iced espresso (maybe I'll lay off the triples for a bit), sitting down at my desk for a skype chat with my previous supervisor back in Vancouver by 8:55am. It was a very intense and productive 52 minutes. Then I got in a very productive day, which even included a short lunch and chat with one of my collaborators here. I'm trying to avoid dragging tasks out so much. I get it in my head that I need so much time to do something and it tends to be an enormous exaggeration, but I end up taking the entire time I allot for myself. Today, I decided to just be happy with something that is very good, but perhaps not perfect. That's what collaborators

and colleagues are for, right? Together, we help each other turn out the great works, ideas, writings, studies, conclusions, etc. No one works alone in a vacuum... not in my world, not in any world I believe. By trusting myself and looking at tasks objectively without obsessing over an image of perfection that doesn't even exist I can get things done in a timely manner and be extremely successful.

It's not the time...

28Nov10, 11:30am Power Yoga with Michael Lau

I was in a state of bliss having seen my wife, Kim, for the first time in almost a month, as she finally arrived to Hong Kong Saturday evening about 8pm. It was like we'd never skipped a beat, like two puzzle pieces, different on our own but solidly linked when together, as always...

I left her at 7:30am Sunday morning, as she had to fly to mainland China for a few days, but I will be meeting her in Taiwan on Tuesday, for which I'm quite excited.

We had a big breakfast at the hotel, which I'm not used to unless it's a brunch/lunch on a weekend, but still... so I was quite happy to go back home and relax, go back to sleep another hour, until heading to yoga a bit later. I'm taking a lot of opportunities to sleep lately, which is interesting and a good sign I think. More on that later.

Yoga was good. I like this teacher a lot, but I don't think my body was at 100% this morning. The last few workouts I've had have been good ones, and I think collectively made my body sore. I love that soreness, but I need to realize that when I'm sore, I probably won't be able to do the full lotus or Padmāsana and the crow or Kākāsana with full extension would be difficult today. Remember Jodie, that's ok. I did look around and saw that everyone else was doing full Padmāsana except for me, and a tear welled in my eye. That leads me to touch back on the idea of "comparison" as it seems like a source of a lot of anxiety for me... my intellect, my body and weight, my athletic performance, my yoga... everything. We are taught to compare in life... this is big, that is small, this is white, that is black... and so it must be hard for us not to translate that to everything else in our lives. Especially for me, as a scientist, it is my career to make comparisons, sometimes I even employ sophisticated statistics in order to do so, as the naked eye isn't always enough to sense differences. Therefore, I'm trained to compare, I'm good at comparing, and it's instinctual for me to compare... I quickly acknowledged my feelings and moved on in my practice. Ultimately, I think it turned out really well.

My teacher today also touched on an idea that is important to me... the idea of time. He couched it within the context of his current favourite song by a French artist. The song, titled "It is not the time" touches on how time isn't the issue... it's priorities. I think about this often when I think that "I don't have time" for something. Before the words leave my mouth, I mentally rephrase that I had other priorities that were higher on my list that day, or something to that extent. I think this is a really good lesson for me and everyone else out there... next time we're feeling time-crunched, consider what priorities are occupying your time and which ones are getting excluded... we all have 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, etc. We make our own choices, however.

Indeed, "it's not the time"... it's us...